In Gus they trust?

(Photo courtesy of al.com)

I'm a believer in Gus Malzahn's system, but not certain he's destined for stardom as a head coach.

Some guys are just meant to be coordinators. A lot changes when you go from grinding away while overseeing an offense or a defense, to being the face of a program.

For every Mark Richt, who successfully made the jump from Florida State coordinator to Georgia head coach, there's a Ron Zook or a Carl Torbush or a John Bunting or an Ed Orgeron or a Ray Goff or a Chuck Amato or a ... Will Muschamp?

Malzahn was among the hottest names out there after last season, when the presence of Cam Newton made it almost unfair on opposing defenses. Malzahn looks a lot more human this year without Newton, as Auburn's points per game have plummeted to 24.3 points per game from 41.2 last year.

The point production this season is even a substantial drop from 2009, when Malzahn averaged 33.3 points per game in his first year on The Plains.

Here are the yards-per-game fluctuations:

2009 431
2010: 499
2011: 328

And yards per play:

2009: 6.1
2010: 7.4
2011: 5.1

I really thought Malzahn would move the ball consistently regardless of the talent on hand, but that hasn't been the case this year. Since totaling 435 yards at Clemson in the third game, Auburn has reached 400 yards just twice since -- 414 against Mississippi, and 415 against Samford. They have been held to less than 200 yards twice in the last three games (against Georgia and Alabama).

Malzahn elected against cashing in his chips last year, and he's still drawing interest from some attractive jobs now despite his offense's descent. Hard to imagine him staying put and risking his stock dropping next year.

Of course, one could argue his stock is already in serious question by virtue of this one-woman circus his wife pulled recently.

How in the world do you explain that during an interview with a president and an AD?

LW